Page 122 of Moonlit Fate

“Can’t... it’s too much,” I gasped out.

“Focus on my voice.” He was steady, a rock. “Breathe with me.”

Inhale. Exhale.

Slowly, I matched his rhythm, and the room stopped spinning. The unrelenting fizzing pain remained, though it was muted to some extent as the edges of panic were beaten back.

“Good,” he murmured and pulled me into a hug. The tremor in my limbs stilled.

“Sorry, I knocked but nobody answered.” Atticus’s voice jolted through me. We turned to find him standing in the doorway. His body was tense, concern etched in the lines of his face, but there was something else too—discomfort.

I hadn’t sensed him the way I had in the clearing. The pain had distracted me so much I’d been oblivious to his presence until he was in the room.

“I have information you need to hear,” he said, his tone urgent.

I pulled away from Eldan and smoothed down my shirt, trying to look less unraveled than I felt.

“What is it? Can it wait?” I asked.

“No, it can’t.” Atticus rarely looked this rattled. Whatever he had to say, it was big.

30

ATTICUS

By harnessing my control over my shadows, I could move through the alpha manor undetected. Although I hadn’t made much use of this ability since the ritual, something had clearly changed. The shadows were now more than a shroud to keep me hidden. They felt more substantial, beckoning me to step into their embrace. But I didn’t have the luxury of time. I had to warn Aria.

Then I’d seen them.Eldan’s hands on Aria, his fingers brushing through her hair. My jaw clenched as a firestorm of jealousy ignited inside me. I was being irrational, but thoughts of where Eldan’s hands traveled consumed me. I wanted to drag him away, wrap my shadows around him until he disappeared. My pulse thundered in my ears, each beat screaming at me to take action.

“Atticus?” Aria’s soft voice pierced through my raging thoughts. “What did you want to tell me?”

Pushing aside the ridiculous urge to lash out at Eldan, I forced my attention back to why I was here.

“My father,” I started, the words tasting bitter, “is now the Crimson Fang alpha. Larkin is his beta.”

No one reacted with surprise. They’d already suspected as much, I realized. Or knew.

“Look,” I continued, the restlessness still clawing at my insides, “you can’t trust him. He’s up to something. Just... be prepared.”

Aria began to pace, her movements erratic and jittery. She mumbled something under her breath.

“Aria?” I asked, watching her with a growing knot in my stomach.

Her companions exchanged silent glances that spoke volumes of the worry they didn’t voice.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong with her?” I looked at each of them in turn, but they gave me nothing but silence. “Someone talk to me.Now.”

“Since the ritual, it’s like I can hear the storms whispering,” Aria said as she stopped pacing. “There are markings around my birthmark. It feels like the static before a lightning strike, uncomfortable and pulsing beneath my skin. It burns as if lightning is trying to break free.”

“I’ve got them the markings, too,” I admitted. “No burning, though. But, yeah, other things.”

I wasn’t ready to talk about the dreams to Aria, not now she was with Eldan. It was too personal.

Frowning, Ilaric stepped closer to me. “Show us the markings. We need to see them.”

I hesitated, then pulled up the hem of my shirt. Dark lines curled around my hip bone, not all visible where they dipped under my waistband, their patterns alien but familiar even after just a few weeks.

Aria rolled up her sleeves next, revealing her own marks. They snaked down from her collarbone over her arms like the roots of an ancient tree.

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